Social exclusion and unemployment are a terrible individual misfortune and blight on our societies as a whole.

This is why the adoption and implementation of measures to combat unemployment and come to the aid of the young and the poorly qualified is a priority for the European Union.

The care that we devote to the most vulnerable is bound to have a positive knock-on effect on growth and yield returns that will benefit everyone. Because to be sustainable, growth must benefit everyone.

Boosting economic prosperity and social cohesion are key tasks for the European Union, and on them rests the fight against poverty and social exclusion.

That is why the European Commission has proposed a strategy for sustainable and inclusive growth for the next ten years, growth that will encourage a high-employment economy favouring social and territorial cohesion; in one word, a strategy for a more inclusive society.

This is the Europe 2020 strategy, a partnership between the European institutions, the Member States, and all European, national, regional and local stakeholders. In it we define three mutually reinforcing priorities: intelligent growth, sustainable growth, and inclusive growth. In it we also set 5 objectives for 2020, three of which I will cite now as they are more specifically relevant to our subject today. First the employment rate among people aged between 20 and 64 must be increased from 69% today to at least 75% in 2020. Another objective concerns the school dropout rate, which currently stands at 15% and must be brought down to 10%, while the number of people going through higher education or equivalent should rise from 31% to at least 40%. Lastly, 20 million people must be taken out of poverty by 2020.

These targets, of course, are targets for collective action or agreed after intense discussions by all Heads of States or Government of the European Union following the proposals made by the European Commission.

It is up to each Member State to transpose these objectives into national objectives tailored to its current situation. For its part, the Commission has already presented flagship initiatives for each objective at European Union level, including a strategy for the Youth, a communication on the policy to fight early school leavers and a European Platform against poverty and social exclusion.

The fight against poverty must be taken into account systematically when policies are formulated, whether they be employment policies, social policies, education policies, policies on migration and migrant integration or policies on the fight against discrimination.

In the coming months we intend to bring out a number of initiatives in each of these fields, including, to cite but a few, a White Paper on pensions that will deal with the adequacy and viability of pensions in the post-crisis context and a new European strategy for integration plus a European framework for national integration strategies for Roma people.

Employment is, of course, at the heart of our preoccupations. A revival of growth that did not generate jobs would be pointless. And employment is undoubtedly the surest safeguard against poverty and the surest guarantee of strong social cohesion.

With this in mind, the Commission has put forward a number of specific measures and recommendations, whether in our agenda for new skills and jobs or in our annual growth survey, stressing that reform of the labour market must be a priority in order to reinforce recovery in the short term.

It is vital to tackle the segmentation of the labour market, the rigidities created by certain pieces of legislation, the shortage of skills geared to new jobs, low wage levels, and job insecurity.

The task we face is no easy one. Our programme is ambitious yet realistic and above all necessary. But at this difficult time in budgetary terms, we must define our priorities carefully in order to satisfy the twin requirements of effectiveness and equity.

It is a programme that places the burden of responsibility on everyone. The Member States, of course; and the Commission, which can play a valuable coordination role and has powerful financial instruments and legal tools at its disposal. In particular, I am thinking here of the European Social Fund, the main financial instrument of aid for employment and social inclusion, as well as the European Regional Development Fund, which contributes to setting up infrastructures and social and educational services.

Besides that, the Charter of Fundamental Rights reaffirms a set of economic and social rights, while Article 9 of the Treaty of Lisbon introduces a “horizontal social clause” that allows us to assess the relevance of all policy measures in the light of their social consequences.

I would like to underline this point because as you know, there are sometimes debates in the EU, in our Member States, in the public opinion, about the right of the European Commission, indeed the right of the European Union to act in social terms because of the principle of subsidiarity. As you probably know now we are facing an action in the European Court of Justice precisely because we have decided to mobilise support for those people who does not have enough to eat through our food programme helping the poorest. Some Member States do not accept that the Commission acts in that matter. I think it is important to underline that from a legal point of view also the EU has now not only the right, but I would say the duty to act in these areas.

For the European Commission it is also a matter of helping to promote social innovation, encourage new partnerships between the public and the private sectors, to release the full potential of social entrepreneurship, in particular by proposing European status for organisations that serve the social economy. In this European year of volunteering it is also a question of supporting and securing fuller recognition for what is the expression par excellence of active social cohesion and solidarity between individuals.

Europe must adapt to the new economic and geostrategic realities. I am convinced that this phase of reforms is an opportunity and a responsibility for all of us, an opportunity and a responsibility to reaffirm our European values and to reinforce our social cohesion. It is an opportunity for greater solidarity allied with greater shared responsibilities. This does not mean less responsibility for each of us, on the contrary, this means a network and a multiplication of responsibilities and therefore reinforcement of our efforts to reach our objectives.

It is up to us to seize the opportunity, and that — let us be quite clear — necessarily involves seeking to safeguard and respect the dignity of the individual since that is the foundation of social solidarity and cohesion.

This is the Europe I believe in. This is the Europe of the European Union and I believe the Europe also of the Council of Europe. A Europe that places human dignity at the heart of our efforts and its citizens at the heart of its endeavour.

I see in this room very distinguished experts, many people committed to the social cohesion, to the fight against poverty, to all matters that are now so urgent and necessary. I wish you a very successful seminar, and you may be sure that the conclusions of this seminar will be an important contribution for the work of the European Commission.